BMI staged its annual Film/TV Music Awards tonight at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles. During the black-tie, invitation-only gala, BMI saluted the composers of music featured in the past year’s top-grossing films, top-rated prime-time network television series, and highest-ranking cable network programs. Hosted by BMI President & CEO Del Bryant and Film/TV Relations Vice President Doreen Ringer Ross, the ceremony also featured the presentation of the Richard Kirk Award to acclaimed composer Rachel Portman. Portman made BMI history as she became the first woman composer to receive the honor.

The Richard Kirk Award is bestowed on composers who have made significant contributions to the realm of film and television music. As the 2010 honoree, Rachel Portman joins an elite list that includes David Newman, Thomas Newman, Christopher Young, George S. Clinton, Harry Gregson-Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Michael Kamen, Mark Mothersbaugh, Danny Elfman, Alan Menken, Mike Post, Lalo Schifrin, John Barry, Charles Fox and John Williams.

Rachel Portman composes music propelled by nuanced elegance and quirky wit. The first woman composer to win an Academy Award, she has created rich scores for films including the Oscar-winning Emma, Nicholas Nickleby, Grammy- and Oscar-nominated Cider House Rules, Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated Chocolat, Roman Polanski’s Oliver Twist, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Hart’s War, Marvin’s Room, Beloved, The Joy Luck Club, The Manchurian Candidate, Infamous, Lake House, The Duchess, Benny and Joon and the recently finished Never Let Me Go, among others. The Oxford University graduate has also contributed acclaimed original music for top-tier television projects, including HBO’s Grey Gardens, Four Days in July, Jim Henson’s Storyteller, Ethan Frome and the BAFTA-winning Oranges are not the Only Fruit.

BMI presented the Classic Contribution Award to Grammy-winning musician and composer Terence Blanchard in recognition of his dedicated work and mentorship with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, which named him Artistic Director in 2000.